


No Guarantees

by mydeira



Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-10-26
Updated: 2012-10-26
Packaged: 2017-11-17 02:05:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,094
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/546440
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mydeira/pseuds/mydeira
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jackie and the Doctor talk.</p>
            </blockquote>





	No Guarantees

**Author's Note:**

> Set post-"Christmas Invasion".

She found him on the rooftop, staring out over the city with a look of amusement. What he found so funny out there was beyond her. But he was alien after all, there was no telling with him.

“Not interrupting, am I?” she announced herself.

The Doctor turned and beamed at her. “Jackie Tyler, have a seat.” He patted the wall next to him.

His overt friendliness still took her by surprise, even after having a month to get used to the new him. He was just so different from the other bloke. Less broody, more approachable. Though, while she wouldn’t admit it out loud, she missed the big ears and blue eyes of the last him. And now he seemed so much younger. Not hard on the eyes, though.

“I never did ask what you thought.” He jumped up and held out his arms. “Well?” He waggled his eyebrows.

Her eyes narrowed. That was just eerie. Bloody eerie alien. “You mucking about in my head, Doctor?”

“Nah, no need to. Pretty easy to tell when someone’s checking you out.” He grinned. Cheeky git. “And you definitely looked before. Just curious how I compared.”

“Still full of ourselves, I see. Good to know not everything has changed,” she said a bit tersely to cover her discomfort over the memory of when she threw herself at the last him. She sat down on the wall. He was still standing there, waiting. Fine. “The hair’s a bit too wild. But the rest’s not so bad,” she grudged.

He ran his hand through his hair. “It’s nice having hair again. Still wish it were ginger. Oh well,” he shrugged, “maybe next time.” The Doctor finally sat. “So what’d you want to chat about, Jackie?”

“Thought I’d check on you. Been up here all day, didn’t know what trouble you were into,” she lied, picking at some imaginary lint on her trousers.

He flashed her a skeptical look. “Now that you know I’m not into any, what’s the real reason you came up here?”

Those brown eyes of his fixed on her intently, making her breath catch. Felt like he could see right through her. She shivered and looked away.

Well, there was no reason to beat around the bush then, was there? “Wanted to ask you about something Rose told me when you sent her back. She said you took her to see Pete the day he died, that she got to be with him.”

“I did.”

She swallowed. The day had always been a blur for her aside from seeing the car hit Pete. But after Rose had told her that, things became a little less fuzzy. 

“I remember seeing you there. The other you,” she amended. “And Rose. Thought she was some blond tramp Pete had brought with him, didn’t I?”

He frowned, and she caught a glimpse of the other one in that look. Dark and serious, with the weight of the universe on his shoulders. And there was that sadness, too, that she’d always ignored.

“Not supposed to remember that, am I?” she said at last.

“The timeline was restored. You shouldn’t remember because, for you none, of that happened. It’s supposed to be the way it was. In theory.” The Doctor sighed. “In practice, actually. Though things really haven’t worked right since…well, never mind since.”

Probably that time war that Rose had mentioned. But Jackie had a feeling it wasn’t something he was keen on talking about. 

“It’s not like I remember it all crystal clear or anything. Just that I didn’t remember much before and now I do remember bits and it’s just kind of weird,” she forged ahead to break the silence. “I figured it wasn’t right. And since that’s your thing, I thought you were the one to talk to.”

“What’s my thing? Weird?” he smiled faintly.

“Weird and then some,” she muttered. “Guess I just wanted you to help me make sense of it all.”

“I’m not sure that I can. But for what it’s worth, I’m sorry.”

“Sorry for what?” She looked at him. “For me being confused? Some people would say that’s my natural state.” He smirked, but she went on. “Don’t be sorry. Pete didn’t die alone, that means a lot. Makes the jumbled memories worth it.”

“I’m glad some good came of it all,” he said quietly.

They sat in silence for a few moments, and Jackie realized how nice it was on the roof, being above everything, gave one a bit of breathing room. She wondered why it had taken until now to discover that. Or maybe it was because of the Doctor. He had a way about him, made you see things different from the way you normally did.

“Pete and me, we wouldn’t have lasted,” she blurted out. “Doesn’t mean I didn’t love him more than anything. It’s just Pete wasn’t the sticking type. I knew that. Too much of a dreamer to be held down in one place for very long.”

“He loved you, Jackie.”

“Love isn’t a guarantee, Doctor,” she said quietly, deciding that now with them talking all civil with each other that maybe she could make the Doctor listen to her for once. “We like to think it is, when we’re all caught up in it. Makes us believe that anything is possible, that everything will last.”

“But nothing does.” He looked grim.

“And you understand that, better than any of us silly apes, I suspect. Seen a lot, you have.”

He nodded and stared off over the city. “She won’t stay, Jackie. You saw that.”

“Don’t I know it,” she sighed. “Helped her out, even.”

“Why? She was safe.”

Jackie shrugged. “Safe isn’t everything.” She leaned back, squinting up at the sun. “Contradicting myself, aren’t I? Don’t want her hurt. But I can’t bear her miserable, neither. And she would have been, stuck here and not able to help.” After a moment, she went on. “Rose is a dreamer like Pete. She’s not made for the daily grind. She needs more in her life. Guess that’s why I can’t hate you so much. You’ve given her an out.”

She jumped off the wall. It was getting late, time to see about putting together tea.

“I try to keep her safe, Jackie. I don’t want to see her hurt any more than you do,” he called after her.

“I know.” She flashed him a sad smile. “Tea should be done within a half hour, if you’re feeling peckish.”

Without waiting for a response, Jackie headed inside.


End file.
